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Wednesday, May 29th, 2024

Majority of US voters support climate litigation against big oil, poll shows

Author:     Dharna Noor
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Tue 28 May 2024 | 06.00 EDT
 Link: Majority of US voters support climate litigation against big oil, poll shows
Stephan:  

It appears that Americans are slowly, very slowly, awakening to what the carbon energy industries have done to wreck the earth’s matrix of life and destroy the environment. As the article about the first national poll reports, “Asked if fossil fuel companies “should be held legally accountable for their contributions to climate change”, 62% of voters said yes, suggesting majority support for the existing civil lawsuits against oil companies. That included 84% of Democrats, 59% of Independents and 40% of Republicans.” What I want you to notice particularly though is where the MAGAt cult stands in relation to independents and Democrats. I think of this as semi-good news.

Two-thirds of Democrats and one-third of Republicans said they would support criminal charges against big oil for climate change-caused deaths. 
Credit: Barry Lewis /In Pictures / Getty

As US communities take big oil to court for allegedly deceiving the public about the climate crisis, polling shared with the Guardian shows that a majority of voters support the litigation, while almost half would back an even more aggressive legal strategy of filing criminal charges.

The poll, which comes as the world’s first-ever criminal climate lawsuit was brought in France last week, could shed light on how, if filed, similar US cases might be viewed by a jury.

The 40 existing US lawsuits against major oil companies, filed by cities and states, are based on civil charges such as tort law and racketeering protections. But last year, the consumer advocacy non-profit Public Citizen proposed also filing criminal charges – most notably, homicide – against the companies.

Big oil, the argument goes, knew pollution from the use of fossil fuels could have lethal consequences and yet still fought to delay climate action, which could be considered grounds for charges of reckless or […]

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